Ten students with 10 entries from the Auburn High School Bulldog speech team will compete in the Saturday, March 28. Class B at Sunrise Middle School in Kearney.
The Auburn team finished as District B-1 runner-up Wednesday, March 18 at Auburn High School.
Medalists
An *asterisk preceding a name indicates a state qualifier.
Duet Acting: *Jack Hayes and Lily Harrah, second with The Legend of Georgia McBride; and Elijah Powell and Ian Mather, fourth with Completely Hollywood Abridged.
Humorous: *Kinsley Gerdes, second with The Staggering Heartbreak of J. Meriwether and *Gavin Moyer, third with Albuquerque.
Extemporaneous: *Grace Zhang, third and Colt Zentner, sixth.
Informative: *Hayes, third with Reality Television and Laurynn Fankhauser, fifth with Hummingbirds.
Oral Interpretation of Drama: *Alexa Janssen, Beau Thomas, Ella Ackley, Gillian Hanna and Kinsley Gerdes, third with Shrek; and Elijah Powell, Hunter Stevenson, Ian Mather, Kyle Jones and Solomon Jacobitz fourth with Princess Bride.
Poetry: *Addison Fankhauser, third with Intertwined and Karlito Holthus Hunt, fourth with Gray Area.
Serious: *Addison Fankhauser, third with Red Hot Patriot and Hanna, sixth with Three Little Words.
Persuasive: *Thomas, third with Artificial Intelligence and Stevenson, fourth with Civility.
Program Oral Interpretation: *Addison Fankhauser, third with Exploitation and Jones, fourth with Why Can’t I Be Me?
Entertainment: Marc Bohling, fourth with The Grimm Brothers Spectaculathon.
Addison Fankhauser and Hayes advanced to state for the fourth time. Hayes was sixth in informative in 2025. Janssen and Thomas are three-time state qualifiers. Earning their second trip to state are Gerdes and Hanna. Going to state speech for the first time will be Ackley, Harrah, Moyer and Zhang.
Seniors
There were 12 seniors on the team. Addison Fankhauser, Hayes, Jacobitz, Powell and Stevenson competed all four years of high school. Three-year participants were Janssen, Mather and Zhang. Harrah competed two years. Joining the team in 2026 were Riley Dickerson, Holthus-Hunt and Zentner.
Team Standings
1. York 374 points. 2. Auburn 280. 3. Syracuse 68. 4. Fairbury 52. 5. Beatrice 46. 6. Nebraska City 42 and 7. Crete 28.
York will be sending 19 entries to state and Crete one.
